Page 43 of His Wild Seduction

“Okay. I will keep the staff on for now, give them instructions to pack the kitchen and common rooms, and Franklin’s bedroom. You can just let me know when you’re ready and we will discuss when to go together,” he said.

“You’d go with me?”

“Of course,” he said, like I was being dumb.

“Oh,” I said and hummed my approval.

Grateful for his efforts, I watched my husband as he sent off a couple more texts.

He was just so different from what I remembered. This part of him, at any rate. The business owner billionaire part.

“What is it?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

I blinked and smiled tightly. I hadn’t meant to get caught staring, but I couldn’t help it.

“Is it strange? Having all that money now?” I asked, curious.

“At first, it was,” he agreed, perfectly in tune with my question. “I grew up with nothing. No family. The military was not my choice. It was either enlist or die in the street. I refused to be another victim or worse, a perpetrator in some pointless war between rival gangs.”

“I never thought about that. I never thought about much, I suppose. Like how you ended up in the military. I only know why you got discharged because you told me,” I whispered.

“I remember. It was one of the first times we really talked, wasn’t it?”

Josef’s eyes darkened, and I thought maybe both of us were trapped back in the past.

Fifteen years ago.

School was done for the day. The library was closed. But I hated studying at home, so I made Josef drive me to the park.

It was chilly, and stupid me, I had nothing but my uniform sweater and my short plaid skirt, paired with knee high cable knit socks and penny loafers.

Luckily, he had a clean towel in the trunk and a jacket he let me borrow.

“How did you get into bodyguarding?”

“It was an easy transition after I left the military,” he explained.

“Why did you leave?”

“I was encouraged,” he said, a sneer marring his handsome face.

God, I loved looking at him. He was so handsome. The darkness I saw sometimes behind his eyes was so vast, so big, but it called to me.

It scared me, but I trusted Josef. I knew he wouldn’t let me get lost.

“Encouraged? By whom?” I asked.

“By my superiors. I was dishonorably discharged for beating my sergeant.”

“Why did you do that?” I whispered, staring at him with nothing less than hero worship shining in my eyes.

“It’s too dark a story for you, Little Red,” he murmured, but I wasn’t letting him get away with that.

“Tell me. Please,” I begged.

“Sergeant Diggs started off innocently enough, teasing one of my fellow soldiers. But he went too far. He forced himself on her and she, well, she just couldn’t live with it,” he paused, but by then I was standing and gripping his forearm.

“After her death was ruled a suicide, the higher ups refused to take action. All charges were dismissed. So, I did a bad thing, Little Red.”

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